Effects of keeping animals as pets on children's concepts of vertebrates and invertebrates

Looking after pets provides several benefits in terms of children's social interactions, factual and conceptual knowledge about these animals. In this study we investigated effects of rearing experiences on children's factual knowledge and alternative conceptions about animals. Data obtained from 1541 children and 7705 drawings showed very strong bias towards rearing vertebrates and a general ignorance of invertebrates. Experiences with rearing animals significantly contributed to children's knowledge about animal’ internal organs. Children who reported keeping two or more animals acquired better scores in our study than children keeping only one or no animals. Moreover, the misclassification of invertebrates was not influenced by children’s experiences of keeping animals. Although girls showed better knowledge about the anatomy of animals and actually kept more animals than did boys, they also more frequently misclassified invertebrates by drawing bones inside the bodies of the animals, hence allocating them to the vertebrates. We propose that science activities with animals should be more focused on rearing invertebrates and improving children’s attitudes and knowledge about them

Effects of Keeping Animals as Pets on Children's Concepts of Vertebrates and Invertebrates

Looking after pets provides several benefits in terms of children's social interactions, and factual and conceptual knowledge about these animals. In this study we investigated effects of rearing experiences on children's factual knowledge and alternative conceptions about animals. Data obtained from 1,541 children and 7,705 drawings showed very strong bias towards rearing vertebrates and a general ignorance of invertebrates. Experiences with rearing animals significantly contributed to children's knowledge about animal's internal organs. Children who reported keeping two or more animals acquired better scores in our study than children keeping only one or no animals. Moreover, the misclassification of invertebrates was not influenced by children's experiences of keeping animals. Although girls showed better knowledge about the anatomy of animals and actually kept more animals than did boys, they also more frequently misclassified invertebrates by drawing bones inside the bodies of the animals, hence allocating them to the vertebrates. We propose that science activities with animals should be more focused on rearing invertebrates and improving children's attitudes and knowledge about them

Children's ideas of animals' internal structures

Children's understanding about animal internal structure can be affected by several factors which are poorly understood by teachers. We conducted a large sample study (n=702) of children aged 6–16 years (Grades 1-9) examining children's responses to animals of various size, species and dimensions (2D and 3D objects), and exploring factors which might affect the development of their knowledge. Each child made a drawing of what they thought was inside a specimen animal. We found that using 2D representations of an animal negatively affected the content of children drawings.The effect of animalsize was shown only in children's understanding of skeletons, but not organ systems. The effect of animal species showedclear significant effect of children's ideas on both organ systems and skeleton. Investigation showed that parents' education level, children's experiences with animal-rearing and age significantly affected their scores from organ system. Surprisingly, school books were most frequently cited as sources of children's knowledge rather than their own experience, or information from the internet, encyclopaedias, television or parents